Governing body Confederation of African Football | ||
Women's football in Africa can be divided into distinct historical periods. Football is one of several sports played by women in Africa with the sport facing several challenges during development. Initially seen as a male participant sport women have long held leadership and support roles within football in Africa.
Contents
History
Peter Alegi, has identified distinct time periods with the development of Women's football in Africa including, "emergence and development (1970s–1980s), growth and transition (1990s), and institutionalization (2000–present)." During the 1960s and 1970s, male football administrators across Africa were largely uninterested in supporting the development women's football teams. Though in Nigeria women teams were playing during the 1940s with the matches being reported in the national newspaper Nigerian Spokesman. These games featured women playing in shorts and were attended by a number of spectators. In South Africa in the 1960s, women several tried to create women's football clubs including Jessie Maseko who tried to create a girls high school football club in 1962. In Cape Town a high school team called the Mother City Girls was created and played against boys' clubs. By the 1970s, regular matches were being played by women in Senegal and South Africa. During the late 1970s, the national football federation started to set up women's league across the country.
Popularity
Football has had to compete with a number of sports that are more popular with women across the continent, including track and field, netball, basketball, team handball and other sports. The masculine nature of football has proved a deterrent to women's involvement in football in Africa.
Behind the scenes
While women were not always playing the game, they supported Footballs development by the 1920s women took on support roles that freed up time and resources which allowed men to actively participate. During the 1960s in South Africa, women began to emerge as leaders in the sport, taking on leadership positions in fan clubs.
Fans
Single women were attending games by the 1960s.
National teams
Before 1985 across the globe very few countries had a national women's football team. In Africa, this was true with for many countries including Burundi and Madagascar with their senior national sides having yet to play a FIFA sanctioned match.